(NOTE: This trip was taken with another forum and am using same report. Hope you enjoy though)

Right, about time I got a trip report done I suppose. Can’t believe it’s already been a week since we were in the Phantasialand hotel, trying to sort food!Haven’t taken many photos and what I did take were on a phone so don’t expect great quality!

Day 1 – WalibiStarted with a 1am alarm in order for me to get my half 2am coach to Bristol Airport. It was a weird feeling having breakfast while my housemates were still up and considering heading to bed!

Coach trip to airport went smoothly and caught my 6:20 flight to Schiphol no problem. Only hitch was that the self-check-in machine didn’t want to work for me so had to queue for the only working machine! One positive of getting a flight at stupid o’clock was of getting to fly into the sunrise!

After finding my way through the huge airport that is Schiphol, I got to the meet point to find no-one I recognised. It was at this point I realised I had to set my phone up for roaming before I left so was completely out of signal. Eventually, someone I was recognised (Owain/Ploddish) turned up and we found the group together. I then opted to follow Sue to the hire car to find we had to get a shuttle bus to a location near(ish) the airport. Hire car was gained without too much faff and we were soon on our way to Walibi Holland!

Once at the park (and through the adventure that was getting to the overflow carpark), first impressions of the park were quite good and liked the pink fountain outside.

First ride was Xpress: Platform 13 which had an awesome queue line. I had heard stories of the queue line being more of a walkthrough attraction than an actual queue and it lived up to expectations. Unfortunately, other than the launch and first inversion, the ride was average at best. Good way to end my almost yearlong coaster drought though. (6/10)

Next up was the boomerang, Speed of Sound. The on-board music definitely helped this one but it is still a boomerang at the end of the day. (4/10)

The kiddie coaster Drako was done next. Not much to say really, one and done though. (1/10)

Next up was what everyone was waiting for, Lost gravity! This being my first modern Mack, I had a lot of expectations and I’m glad to say it lived up to them! First drop and airtime hill was fab and I always completely forgot about the dip before the MCBR. Wasn’t expecting the huge difference the wings seats made, makes the first drop even better! Queue line was also great and didn’t know the vibrating stairs existed until we were on them! (8/10)

While waiting for everyone to get off, I went and got my only souvenir of the trip, the mug from the €5 unlimited tea/coffee refills offer! Not great quality tea but definitely needed after getting up at 1am!(Pictured on my desk at home after I got back)

After Lost Gravity, it was time for El Condor. Being the first SLC, I’d heard a lot of bad things about this and unfortunately, they turned out to be true. While not headbanging style rough, it just jerked about everywhere and at various times, sounded like it was going to fall apart! I knew it wasn’t going to be great when it was bumpy leaving the station! (4/10)

Rapids were up next which had a funny design of boat, making them completely flexible. Allowed for a much greater level of wetness though than conventional rapid boats. I was in Richards boat so was fun watching him shout whenever any drop of water came near him! (6/10)

After navigating the parks really odd layout, we eventually made it to Goliath. Although it was only my 2nd proper hyper coaster (after the big one), I still felt it was lacking in many places, most noticeably the middle section with the giant helix. First drop and bunny hills were fun though and the whole ride was noticeably better in the back. (7/10) (taken from Haunted Holidays queue) (Just noticed they’ve doubled up one of the supports as a mobile phone tower! Quite clever that…)

Robin Hood was up next. I am still trying to get my head round whoever thought it was a good idea to put Vekoma and Wooden Coaster together! Rough, airtimeless and rather uninspired layout. Still good enough for me to consider a reride though. (5/10)

Lunch break happened and most people (including me) ended up at the kebab place in the food court. It was quite nice but way overpriced for what it was and left me wanting more. Due to that, I got some chips to go with it (again overpriced) which was a decent sized portion and I mentioned to get free mayo! That did lead to getting my hands covered in mayo though when trying to reach the bottom chips from the container.

After lunch, the group split and I joined the group doing the mazes. I did every maze except the clinic and thought all of them were great. The theming in all of them was fantastic, especially the mine scene in the villa. A lot of jump scares were had from lots of unexpected positions. Think my favourite was the guy jumping out the Christmas tree in Haunted Holidays.The scare zones dotted around the park were also fab and very atmospheric, especially the pirate one and Game Over.

Once all mazes were done, the group reunited for some night rides on Goliath and used the free fast pass for Lost Gravity. Night definitely improves both rides but it had started to rain while we were queueing for Goliath so I spent most of the ride trying avoid the rain flying directly into my face.

After all that, there was a lot of faff since some of the group wanted to leave but some (including me) wanted to stay till the end. This took a while to sort and more faff was had when we realised we lost a member of the group! It soon turned out that he’d left with some of the group to head to the hotel without telling anyone.

Once that was sorted, me, sue and a few others opted for 1 final ride on Xpress. While still not brilliant, the ride is definitely improved at night. At some point, I took this photo of the big wheel over the main stage but can’t remember when so leaving it here.

After Xpress, we left the park to head to the hotel but there was a huge queue to leave the carpark and then there was a road closure on the way! We eventually made it to the hotel for the night where I virtually immediately crashed out after being up for over 24hrs!

After some needed sleep in the Zwolle hotel, we had a surprisingly nice breakfast in the hotel and made our way to Toverland! Luckily we must have hit this on a quiet day since everything was walk on!

First up was the indoor coaster, Boomerang. Was ok and suited well to its target market. Nothing special though. (4/10)Water slide was done next which was surprisingly quick and wet! Lights inside the black slide were fab. Was funny watching Richard go flying into the end wall!

Fun house was up next. I find these things need to be done with the correct group of people and CF were perfect for this. Great laugh watching everyone attempting to get round.

Dwervelwind was next, my first Mack spinner and 2nd modern Mack. Definitely didn’t disappoint, is a great little ride. Station theming is also brilliant. Onride camera’s in a really odd place though. (7/10)

Next up was my 100th coaster, Troy! Definitely worthy of the milestone, was very quick and surprisingly smooth. Until Phantasialand, this was pushing for my number 1 spot (or at least a spot in my top 10) Could have used a bit more airtime though, most noticeably was if the bunny hop before the station fly through was lowered slightly, that could have provided some fantastic airtime! Due to it being walk-on, a few instant re-rides happened. Afterwards, I made a sign for the obligatory photo with Ian! (9/10)(sign didn’t come out but it does say 100!)

Also took some more photos while waiting for everyone:

Next was Boosterbike. Not much to say, was fun but not anything outstanding. Definitely prefer Velocity.(5/10)

Lunch happened and I headed to a hotdog place in the second building where I think I unintentionally taught that staff member some new English terms. Did order the Pulled pork sandwich but they were out of stock, leading the guy to explain the other options to me. He came up short when pointing to the Hot dog machine and actually mentioned he didn’t know what the English term for them were. I said they were called hot dogs and he seemed very graeful for this new bit of knowledge, especially since Ian came up behind me wanting hotdogs as well!. Was quite a nice hot dog, would have again if at the park again.

After lunch, everyone went on the log flume which was surprisingly tall! Great drop though with a very decent splash level. While waiting for everyone to get off the log flume, someone (can’t remember who) had the great idea of taking Maddie’s bag and leaving at the top of the massive slide near the log flume! This was followed by Jordan Wood’s bag which I delivered up to the top. Once Jordan got off the log flume, a challenge was set for Jordan to fetch his bag within 1:30! This was fun to watch since the slide was busy with children at the time so he had to try and get past all the children without barging them out the way!

The bobsled was done now which had the longest queue of the day. Was still fantastic though and surprisingly quick around some of the corners. Managed a lap time of around 1:40min which I thought was pretty respectable!

Antics were then had on some of the other play equipment including seeing how many people we could get onto the ferry thing without it sinking and bouncing everyone on the giant pillow. This type of stuff I’d have never considered doing without CF so was quite great fun to have the chance to do it without worrying about nearby children! Was quite proud of myself for making it to the top of the volcano thing.

The rapids were done about now. Fairly average rapids but thought at one point the boat was going to sink! After going through the misty tunnel section, the boat hit a big wave and got partly sucked underneath the water, leaving the other half of the boat up the in air! Luckily, the boat soon corrected itself and we were back on our way round!

A re-ride on Dwervelwind was then done followed by the Faffle. This was my first faffle and I managed to win 2 things. A Swarm alarm clock and a mouldy Alton Towers air freshener! Just what I’ve always wanted!(for those interested, I have stuck the air freshener up on eBay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122190368050? ... 1555.l2649). Am surprised by that it has a bid, someone actually wants it!))

During the Faffle, a random cat appeared in the middle of the park!

Afterwards, we all headed back to Troy for re-rides until the park shut. The ride had warmed up by now and was running even better than before. There was even another enthusiast group getting a backstage tour while we were on it!

Overall: A great little park, made extra fab by being with the big kids that call themselves CF. Wouldn’t have enjoyed the park half as much without CF.

After leaving, we made our way to the fab Hotel Matamba at Phantasialand. Easily the best hotel I’ve been to, rooms were fantastic and whole hotel was brilliantly themed. Only problem was that there were 2 double beds between 3 guys who hardly knew each other!

Only gripe with the hotel is I wouldn’t eat there again. After taking ages to sort us a table, we finally got a table about 10pm for the buffet Chinese restaurant. Not only was it ridiculously overpriced at €28pp, the food was only of average quality and there wasn’t much choice. I’ve had better Chinese takeaways before!

Started the day well by accidentally oversleeping and having to rush breakfast. Once in the park, the whole group ran to the Klugheim area to join the queue waiting for Taron to open. This queue gave a fantastic view over the whole Klugheim area and we get to watch and hear Taron testing!

Once we got on, this ride was incredible! Both launches were fab, especially the 2nd one which seemed to just keep pushing you on. Virtually every hill gave plenty of ejector air, most noticeably the s-bend hill after the 2nd launch. The noise of the launches was incredible as well. While I doubt it was intentional, the roar the launches give off actually fit in with the theme of Taron being a mythological beast! The ride was improved even further at night with the addition of not being able to see fully where you going and the fact the ride had all day to warm up meant it was running a lot quicker! Still Can’t decide if front or back is best but any seat makes this worthy of taking my new number 1 spot! (10/10)

After the excitement of Taron, we made our way to Chiapas. I have ridden the old log flumes that Chiapas replaced and after all the stories I’ve heard about Chiapas, I was only expecting good things! It certainly lived up to those expectations! The theming was fantastic throughout and the ride seemed to go on forever! The unexpected disco room was also fab and the whole ride was polished off with the fantastic final drop!

After Chiapas, Colorado Adventure was done. I have actually ridden this before back in 2009/2010ish so was excited to see how it compared. I’d actually forgotten how good it is! Surprisingly long and full of headchoppers (especially for a tall person like me). (8/10)

Black Member (named so after a member accidentally mispronounced Mamba at Toverland) was up next which was just as fab as I remembered it to be! Was longer than I remember as well. (8/10)Talocan was next, one of many rides I managed to miss on my previous visit. After seeing a lot about it online, I was excited to finally get on it! So much fire! Unfortunately, was sat on the back row so couldn’t get the full experience but it was still a lot more intense than I was expecting and easily the best Topspin I’ve been on. Glad it has proper restraints though and not the stupidly tight ones on other topspins. Lunch happened next and I opted for a quick burger so that I could get the Ghost train done as well. A longer than expected wait in the burger restaurant meant I was pegging it to/from the ghost train though. Was still a decent burger, just a pity I had to rush it. Ghost train was decent enough but in hindsight, I’d have rather sat and enjoyed my burger with the view over Chiapas.

After lunch, we fastpassed Maus au Chocolat using the free fastpasses given to us for staying in the hotel. Easily the best shooter I’ve been on and surprisingly long. Was winning in my car (me and Owain (I think)) until I got overtaken on the 2nd to last screen and proceeded to lose badly. A score of 157450 I don’t think was too bad though.

We then proceeded into the Wuze Town area for the Winjas and queued for Fear. Easily the longest queue of the day in an un-airconditioned indoor cattlepen, meaning that was not a fun queue! Eventually got on and was pleasantly surprised by it! Completely forgot about the see-saw style section near the end and had no idea about the bouncy track right at the end! Luckily, we had another hotel fastpass to use up so managed to avoid queueing for Force. Again was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the tilt feature at the end but definitely enjoyed Fear more. Fear just seemed to have a lot more going on and felt longer than Force. (Fear = 7/10, Force = 6/10)

After the Winjas, we headed to what felt to be the older section of the park for Temple of the Night Hawk and Hollywood tour/CBR. Temple of the Night Hawk surprised me since in a park as amazingly themed as Phantasialand, I wasn’t expecting such a poorly themed ride. Yes, it’s old but is still clearly showing an old Sci-fi theme badly remade into a forest theme and switching all lights off inside the ride. Just made the whole ride feel out of place, would be a decent enough ride anywhere else though. (4/10)

CBR wasn’t much better either but could be massively improved by updating the theming to modern standards. Does remind me of River Caves in its current form though.

Hotel Tartüff was done next and again I’m glad I was with CF for this. I usually skip fun houses when on my own but in a group like CF, it was fantastic and very well themed.

After the fun house, it was time for River Quest. Still just as good as I remember and they seem to have improved in by adding more actual rapids! Easily the best rapids I’ve been on and still nothing like any other rapids I’ve been on!

Mystery Castle was up next and I’m in a minority here. I enjoyed the ride but don’t see why everyone raves about it! It was good in the way it just kept speeding up on the way up but there was no force to the movement. IMO, it would be improved by making the drops more forceful and have a slightly longer ride cycle.

After Mystery Castle, some of the group split and I joined the group doing the madhouse. Couldn’t get anything of the storyline but seemed to be Mortal Kombat: The Ride! Was good though like any other mad house I’ve been on.

Afterwards, there was time for a quick look in the shop before hotel ERT in Klugheim. Once ERT opened, everyone rushed to Raik to get it over and done with. Was a quite ride and perfect for the families visiting the park. Was especially fun ducking in and out of Taron and the theming. (6/10)

Once Raik was done, everyone ran over to Taron and stayed there for the rest of the evening! I managed to get quite a few back row rides done with a front row ride, made even better by the fact it had got dark by this time! These night rides were fantastic and cemented the ride as my new number one! As I mentioned above, I still can’t make my mind up between front and back for best ride as both are fantastic.

After ERT was over, we made our way to the Eindhoven hotel ready for Efteling the next day!

Overall: Fantastic little park that has made its way to my favourite park. I’m just so happy I finally got back here, been on my bucket list since managing to miss half the park on my previous visit!

After some more needed sleep in the Eindhoven hotel, we got up early to make our way to Efteling for exclusive ERT on Baron and Joris!

Baron was great and to me, felt like a smaller but longer Oblivion. It was only my 2nd dive machine so was always going to get compared! Was great fun though with some fantastic theming, even if I wasn’t quite sure what was supposed to be going on (a theme that continues with virtually all dark rides today!) (7/10)

Joris was also great. Managed to get a back row ride on both sides during the ERT and the water effect took me by surprise! The racing element on these coasters are always fun, especially with a large group like CF when split across both trains. Not quite as good as Troy though. (7/10)

During some faff waiting for the park to officially open after the ERT, we headed over to Joris’s dragon for photos.

Once the park opened properly, we headed over to Vliegende Hollander. Had heard mixed things about this ride and was thinking to myself as to why KumbaK have only ever built 1 coaster but went into this with an open mind. The theming inside was fantastic and the outdoor section is very photogenic. As for the actual ride, the dark section is brilliant but the actual coaster section was severely lacking and didn’t really do anything. As I said at the time, great dark ride, ok coaster (5/10)

Next up was the old Vekoma looper, Python. Didn’t do much but wasn’t as rough as I was expecting. While they’re never anything special, I do have a slight soft spot for this type of coaster, the generic looper that doesn’t do much without gimmicks. This may be caused by the overall gimmickyness of UK coasters though, leaving me wanting something normal. (6/10)

The long walk to Vogel Rok was made next. Was another great ride and the theming inside definitely helped it. The onboard music was very cleverly integrated with the station music so I didn’t notice the transition! Ride itself fairly average though. (5/10)

Next up was Carnival Festival with the annoyingly catchy music. Fun though and much longer than expected.

Drromvlucht was next and had one of the longest queues of the day. Free wifi helped though and I was actually able to use my phone! (and catch up with the Pokemon Go bandwagon.). Ride itself though was great, fantastically themed throughout even if I wasn’t sure of the storyline!

Lunch happened and I joined the group doing Raveleijn who decided to run halfway across the huge park for food! Surely, anywhere nearby would have been easier? Food was good though and quite like the self service system (even if I did cause faff by not having the change for it and the change machine not accepting my €20 note!).

After the rushed lunch, we went to watch Raveleijn. I had heard a lot of good things about this show so was expecting great things. The theming on the set used was fantastic but through not understanding dutch, I wasn’t quite sure of the storyline. Did love the big dragon setpiece used though!

After lunch, it was time for the park’s madhouse, Villa Volta. Again, since I don’t speak dutch, I wasn’t too sure of the storyline but was still able to enjoy the ride. Again the theming on it is incredible. I find all madhouses pretty samey so ride itself was nothing special.

Afterwards, we made our way to the park’s bobsleigh coaster, Bob. This was my first time on an Intamin bobsleigh so was interested in how the ride compared to the Mack counterpoint. Ride itself was fun but felt very stop-start due to all the MCBRs. Certainly banks a lot more than Mack bobsleighs though. (7/10)

Pirana, the parks rapids, were done next. Exceedingly average but definitely better than Rumba Rapids at Thorpe. The boat overtaking going on was also fun.

Fata Morgana was next, another indoor dark ride that I wasn’t too sure of the storyline for. Again, the theming was incredible throughout, cannot fault the theming at this park.

Afterwards, a quick look at the park’s model railway, Diorama was done. As with most model railways, it was very well made with a lot to look at. I especially like the night-time section but it would be best enjoyed if there was more time.

Next up was Spookslot! Went into this expecting a ghost train of sorts, the animatronic show was definitely unexpected! Was good though and hard to keep an eye on everything at once!

Afterwards, a quick walk past the building site of Symbolica was made and the building looks fantastic! The amount of detail on the outside can only bode well for the theming on the inside!(even the back of the building is fantastic! Seemingly didn’t take any photos of the front)

Now for possibly the most famous part of the park and the reason the theme park is here, the fairytale forest! This was fantastic but was completely unaware of how long it all was! Was in there for what must have been at least 1 and a half hours! Would like to do it again but would most likely get a 2 day ticket for the park and do this the morning of the 2nd day to ensure I enjoy it fully without rushing to get everything done. This would also give time to enjoy the rest of the park more.

The fairytale forest took up the rest of my time in the park before having to get to the airport for my flight home. Had just enough time to catch the end of Aquanura and have a browse of the shop.

Overall: Great park but as I mentioned above, I feel it requires 2 days to enjoy it fully (1 day park, 1 day fairytale forest + rerides). Would love to go again and Symbolica just makes it this prospect even more tempting!

After hitting bad traffic on way to airport causing me to panic about my flight, I managed to catch the flight after running across Schiphol! Big thanks to Sue there for driving as quick as the law allowed and re-assuring me I’d get home somehow!

As a bonus, 2 rows in front of me on the plane were Ian and Jordan Wood lookalikes! (not great photo, looked better in real life). Ended up following them through Bristol Airport as well!

Trip Overall: Fantastic trip, so happy I filled that last minute place that opened up on a spur-of-the-moment decision. Big thanks to everyone who drove for driving, Ian for organising, and everyone for being such great company!